Week 7: London Museums

London has a large number of museums you should definitely take advantage of.  In fact, most are free, with the exception of some of the smaller more specialized ones.

• National Gallery – Famous paintings, including Van Gogh (Sunflowers), Monet, Seurat, Van Eyck (The Arnolfini Portrait), Van Gogh (The Virgin of the Rocks) and much more.
• National Portrait Gallery – I think I like this better than the National Gallery, mostly because I really like the collection of modern portraits they have.  A current (free) exhibit features royal portraits.  There’s a head made of the artist’s blood and has to be displayed in a refrigeration device (weird but cool).  Also, I saw a special exhibit featuring the Queen, from official portraits to Andy Warhol’s take, and I loved it.
• Tate Modern – Very abstract.  The building is converted from an old power station, the Bankside Power Station,  and there are galleries on the underground floor in old oil tanks used by the power station.
• British Museum – So large that I definitely did not see all of it.  Holds the Rosetta Stone and many other historical relics from all over the world.
• Victoria & Albert Museum – The world’s largest museum on decorative arts and design.  I really loved the exhibits on fashion there.  Also cool exhibits featuring jewelry.  The current special exhibits were on ballgowns and Hollywood costumes, which both looked amazing but I unfortunately did not have a chance to see because of both the price and unlimited time I had–not to mention the masses of people in line or with pre-booked tickets.
• National History Museum – Has a giant dinosaur skeleton and is absolutely huge and full of interesting things (sadly I did not get to see it all).  The architecture is beautiful and I think worth checking out in itself.
• Bank of England Museum – You can pick up a gold bar (though it’s held in place behind bars) and see currency throughout the ages.

Columns at the entrance of the National History Museum.